Introducing EDGE RESERVE
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Time to read 2 min
Of one the challenges of being a coffee buyer is, in the nicest way possible, keeping everyone happy. It can be a delicate balancing act trying to find the right coffee for the right market at the right price. Sometimes I don’t get it right, and by leaving a gap in the coffee we offer, a coffee drinker looking for a specific experience may not find what they’re looking for. After all, coffee can at once be widely accessible and incredibly exclusive, and what’s good and what’s not is always highly subjective.
So one of the challenges, but also what keeps my job very fun, is searching for coffees that I think will serve everyone. That is, making sure there is at least one coffee in our range that is for every kind of coffee drinker. Whether you like espresso or filter coffee, black coffee, coffee with milk, light roast, dark roast and everything in between, washed, naturals, chocolatey, nutty, sweet, funky, fruity coffee, my hope is that there is a coffee here for you.
When Coffee Becomes Exceptionally Rare
However, there are coffees in the world that are very deliberately produced in very limited quantities and so by their nature, hard to come by, rare and limited. Sometimes this is because producers know that tight supplies equals increased demand (and therefore competition from buyers like me) and sometimes it’s simply a consequence of producers experimenting.
Pushing Boundaries, One Micro-Lot at a Time
Often, in order to learn new skills and innovate, producers may sacrifice a portion of their coffee crop to create a special new micro-lot that will help their farm have greater reach in the specialty market, provide them with exposure and recognition, as well as fetch higher prices for their coffee, all of which will, if it goes well, provide greater economic stability for farmers, producer and their families, who rely on their coffee for their livelihoods.
Luckily, there is also a coffee drinker, a flavour hunter, who seeks the unusual and the adventurous. Who demands the best, the most unique and is thrilled by the weird and wonderful.
Enter EDGE Reserve.
I am thrilled, if not someone nervous, to announce the release of this new coffee range.
Amongst our usual range of house blends, decafs and single origin coffee, you will find EDGE Reserve – A small, curated range of ultra-premium, rare, limited and exclusive coffees of the highest quality from producers pushing the boundaries of their craft.
While for most, these will not be your everyday coffees, these are coffees for special occasions, for gifting, for collectors, for coffee drinkers who demand premium luxury.
To ensure we maximise the potential of these coffees, we roast them to order on our high-precision, Aillio Bullet electric roaster for optimum flavour and clarity. This way we can be confident that the coffee, as well as the producer, gets the showcase they deserve.
The Author: Stevie Mckusker
Stevie is Head of Coffee at EDGE Tea & Coffee, responsible for sourcing and roasting our green beans and ensuring every coffee meets our quality standards before it reaches our shelves.
